Continuing a grueling conference schedule, the NIU women’s basketball team tonight welcomes the top three-point-shooting squad in the Mid-American Conference.

The Bowling Green Falcons, who are just under 40 percent from three-point range for the season, will bring their long-distance barrage to Chick Evans Field House for a 7:05 p.m. tipoff.

Junior guard Francine Miller leads the Falcons, averaging 12 points a game and shooting a sizzling 51 percent from the arc. Sophomore Kim Griech (9 points per game) also can hit the three, canning 44 percent of her attempts for the year.

“They’ve got some good shooters,” NIU coach Carol Hammerle said. “[Miller] is a player that we need to stop. They’ve got a pretty good inside attack as well.”

The Huskies (7-11 overall, 3-2 MAC) will need the same defensive effort they got from sophomore Kristan Knake and freshman Lindsay Secrest on Saturday, when the duo combined for 8 steals.

NIU had just 14 turnovers in Saturday’s 63-50 triumph over Miami and will need to continue that trend against Bowling Green, which Hammerle said will use different defensive schemes.

“They’re going to show us full-court pressure,” Hammerle said. “They’re going to show us a 2-3 zone and man-to-man, so they’re going to vary their defenses, and we’re going to have to execute against it.”

The Falcons hope to climb back into first place in the MAC West, where they’re second at 4-1 and carry an 8-8 overall record. Bowling Green also features a balanced attack that showed in a 82-63 routing of Central Michigan on Jan. 9, when six Falcons reached double figures.

However, the Huskies have a solid front-court attack in freshman forward Jen Youngblood and senior center Mickey Johnson, who tallied 19 and 16 points, respectively, against Miami.

“I think we took some big steps against Miami,” Hammerle said, “though we need to continue that against Bowling Green.”